Background: Acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP) is a rare and severe subtype of drug eruption, characterized by acute, extensive, non-follicular, sterile pustules on an erythematous background, accompanied by fever and leukocytosis. Objective: The purpose of this study was to characterize AGEP in Korean patients in terms of clinical, laboratory, and pathologic findings. Methods: Thirty-six patients (M:F=17:19) with AGEP were identified from an extensive review of medical records over a 15 year period. All patient cases were confirmed by biopsy and fulfilled the diagnostic criteria. Results: The patient ages ranged from 4∼80 years (37.6±19.4). The incubation period was 1∼23 days. The duration of disease was 5∼14 days. Neutrophilia (36/36), high CRP (14/36), and eosinophilia (30/36) were common laboratory findings. A history of drug administration existed in 23 of 36 patients; herbal medications, lacquers and radiocontrast media were the unique causative drugs. Spongioform subcorneal or intraepidermal pustules in the epidermis was observed in all patients. Thirty-six patients were subdivided into 2 groups: group A (n=23) was strongly associated with known agents; and group B (n=13) had no identified causative agents. There was no significant difference between the 2 groups. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate the characteristic features of AGEP in Korean patients as follows: lower identification of causative agents; herbal medications, lacquers, and radiocontrast media were the main causative agents; and no significant differences existed between the 2 groups. (Ann Dermatol 22(2) 163∼169, 2010)

The point prevalence of atopic dermatitis (AD) among Korean adults visiting the Health Service Center for health check-ups was assessed. AD was diagnosed based on the questionnaires filled by patients and through physical examination by dermatologists. A total of 3,563 persons completed the questionnaires, and 2,032 persons were examined by the dermatologists. According to the questionnaires, the prevalence of AD was 7.1%, and from the dermatologists' examination, it was 2.6% overall, which decreased with age significantly. The prevalence in men was higher than that of women. Grading the severity of AD according to their eczema area and severity index scores, 70.6% were classified as being mild, 25.5% moderate, and 3.9% severe. Interestingly, concomitance of psoriasis and AD was found in 0.5% of those examined by the dermatologists. Our results suggest that AD is one of the most common skin diseases not only in children but also in adults in Korea.

Fig. 1. Pruritic, solitary, well-demarcated, brown Lymphomatoid keratosis (LK) is considered to be a rare variant of cutaneous lymphoid hyperplasia, with epidermotropism. We herein report a case of LK which developed on the abdomen of an elderly Korean woman. A 60-year-old woman presented with a 10-year history of a pruritic, solitary, brown to black plaque on the abdomen. Histopathologically, the specimen showed hyperkeratosis, parakeratosis, acanthosis and Pautrier's micro-abscess in the epidermis, and a lichenoid infiltration of lymphocytes in the dermis, which expressed both B cell and T cell lineage on the immune-histochemical staining. Based on these clinical and histopathological findings, our case was diagnosed as LK. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of LK in the Korean dermatologic literature. (Ann Dermatol 22(2) 219∼222, 2010)